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Period: 10,000 BCE to 4000 BCE
Domestication and the Discovery of Beer
Beer was original discovered in the Fertile Crescent. Which is an area including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. It is not certain how beer was originally discovered, due to the lack of writing systems, but historians believe it started with the domestication of cereal grains. Domestication became more widespread because now trade will start occurring between peoples, with crops and domesticated animals. The fertile crescent was ideal for farming, so this is where most early civilizations began. -
Period: 9000 BCE to 4000 BCE
The Production of Wine
Wine was discovered by Neolithic peoples in the Zargos mountains in modern Armenia and Northern Iraq. The Neolithic people settled and figured out how to domesticate Eurasian grapes and ferment them into wine. The new settlers were able to grow crop year round with farms and create pottery to store wine. -
Period: 7000 BCE to 5000 BCE
Spread of Framing and Increase of Beer
Farming's popularity spread throughout the fertile crescent, plants and animals started to become more abundant. Along with an increase of farming and domestication, beer was became popular as more people knew how to make it from crops they could now grow in their very own backyards. -
3400 BCE
Cuneiform in Mesopotamia and Beer
Cuneiform is the earliest form of writing, and it was created by the Mesopotamians , where their oldest documents were found in Uruk. Their writing was made of symbols that we have been able to decipher. Historians have figures out that one symbol represented beer. Cuneiform kept track of food rations as well as beer rations, and helped keep track of balanced diets. -
Period: 3000 BCE to 2000 BCE
Writing and Pictures of Beer
Mesopotamian and Sumerians created the first writing systems using symbols and pictures. This would lead to the communication between civilizations and the ability to trade. Historians were able to learn how beer was drunk by pictures of two people drinking from straws and sharing beer from one big vase type container. Beer was seen as a gift from the gods so it was used in religious ceremonies and social events. -
Period: 2737 BCE to 2697 BCE
First Cup of Tea
Emperor Shen Nung was said to brew the first cup of tea in China during his reign. He was said to have invented agriculture and the plow, and medicinal herbs. He was credited the second legendary emperor of China. Chinese folklore said tea leaves accidentally landed in his boiling water as he burned tea branches. This was said to be the discovery of tea. -
2500 BCE
Cultivation on Crete
Domestication and the abandonment of the Nomadic lifestyle started spreading from the fertile crescent to the Mediterranean sea coasts and islands. Wine was starting to be produced on the island of Crete, which is apart of Greece. This establishment of grapes will help inspire Greeks to involve wine and grapes into mythology. -
2000 BCE
City States in Mesopotamia and Egypt
Large villages would ban together eventually creating city states. These city states would eventually become hubs of trade and social interaction, and have given us the precedent of cities. A popular item of trade throughout these city states was beer. Beer was becoming more complicated as people realized that there were many different kinds, and better beer would come from different city-states. -
424 BCE
The Rise of Sparta
Sparta was a nation of war. Their inhabitants were born and raised as warriors. They knew little of the outside world, but believed in dying for their state. Sparta was opposite to democratic Athens. As Spartans marched to takeover Acanthus, they left the vineyards alone so wine would be produced due to its impact on trade and Greek lifestyle. -
360 BCE
Philosophy and Wine
As philosophy emerged in Ancient Greece, the social aspect of sharing ideas impacted government and ideologies. Socrates was a great philosopher who had many pupils write of his ideas and teachings. A fictional story titled 'Symposium' by one of Socrates' pupils talked about the exchange of ideas and philosophy. The conversations would go on while Thasian wine was drunk. -
146 BCE
The Rise of Rome
Rome was located in Italy, which produced the most wine in all of the ancient world. The Romans became the civilization with the most power in the Mediterranean after Carthage fell in Africa, and Corinth fell in Greece. This emergence of Roman power would lead to one of the most largest empires in the world. -
1300
Mongols Take China and Tea
As the mongols conquered China and were on their way to having the biggest empire in the world, tea became less popular in China. Koumiss, a traditional Mongol drink, gained popularity in China since the mongols took over. When Marco Polo made his journey to China he did not mention tea but did mention koumiss. -
1430
Printing Press and Recreational Spirits
Aqua Vitae which with the predecessor to spirits, and was medicinal. People were able to discover how to make aqua vitae recreational, and after its medicinal values were printed off using Johannes Gutenberg's printing press. People would buy aqua vitae, but as they used it they realized how quickly it could make one drunk. The printing press also printed off bibles, newspapers, and made informational more accessible. -
1493
Sugarcane and Mercantilism
Columbus brought sugarcane back from the canary islands to Europe, where the Spanish and Portuguese used slaves to grow sugarcane. Spain and Portugal both owned the land in South America, which meant they controlled imports and exports going to and from their territories. Including raw materials, sugar, to make rum. -
1500
Slaves in Maderia
Sugar was a necessity in trade and boosted economy. Slaves were placed in Madeira, Portugal to mass harvest sugarcane in order to make rum. Slavery was popular and acceptable since slaves were not considered people, they couldn't be christian, so they were slaves. Slaves were stolen from Africa and forced to live in inhumane conditions. -
1524
Resistance to Coffee in Islam
Many people who practiced Islam believed coffee could be just as intoxicating as alcohol, and other believed it was perfectly fine to drink. This is an example of many contradictions in some religions and how throughout history quarrels between the same religion can occur. A coffeehouse in Mecca was almost shut down, but many saw nothing wrong with coffeehouses so closures did not last long. -
1540
Coffee in Cairo
In Islam, you are not allowed to drink alcoholic drinks, so coffee gained popularity very quickly in Egypt and the middle east. Islam was and still is the most popular and growing religion in the middle East. -
Dutch Introduce Tea to Europe
China isolated themselves from trade and cultural diffusion between Europe because they thought of the Europeans as devils. The Dutch finally brought tea to Europe in 1610, where it was only available to the rich, and it did not reach France until the 1630s and England til the 1650s. -
Period: to
Coffeehouse Gossip and Sociability
Throughout coffeehouses in London, gossip was shared as well as information involving sales or trading information. Philosophy was studied in coffeehouses and politics were discussed in them too. In our modern day society some might go out for a coffee just as these people did to discuss gossip or business. -
Sugar Act
The sugar act was passed after the French and Indian War, which now made sugar more expensive which the American colonists did not support. After fighting the French alongside Britain to sustain British rule in the colonies, colonists thought it was unfair to tax more. Now colonists would have to smuggle sugar from other countries to make rum cheaper to make. This was just the start of unrest between Britain and the colonies. -
The London Stock Exchange
A group of men, since women were not allowed in coffeehouses, came together in a coffeehouse named New Jonathon's and started the The Stock Exchange. Which became the forerunner to the eventual London Stock Exchange. -
Boston Tea Party
To protest imperial rule from England in the Colonies, a abolitionist group called the Sons of Liberty dumped three shiploads of tea imported from England into the Boston Harbor. This was just the start of what would lead to the revolutionary war and the fight for independence in America. -
The French Revolution
France's aristocracy was viewed as corrupt to the French citizens because they could not understand why there were so many poor people, and yet the rich kept getting richer. A lawyer named Camille Desmoulins put the French revolution in motion as he yelled to a crowd outside a french coffeehouse to rise up against those in power. -
The Whiskey Rebellion
National debt increased drastically after war with England and America. The nation's treasurer, Alexander Hamilton, though it only made sense to tax the production of distilled drinks, or in other words alcohol. This sparked a rebellion because colonists just went to war with Britain over taxation, and now it seemed repetition could occur. George Washington went himself to put a stop to the whiskey rebellion. -
England and Dutch Fight for Tea Trade
England had almost full control of trade in the East Indies, but the Dutch were still in their way. The Dutch and England went to war over who would control trade fully. At the end of the war, England had a victory and the Dutch were defeated, granting England full control of trade in the East Indies. -
Coca-Cola Advertisement
The first advertisement of Coca-Cola was sent out in newspapers. Coca-Cola did not know at the time that it would become such a universal symbol to represent America and western beliefs and how it would have an affect on the rest of the world. -
Allied Victory Against Axis Powers
The Allies in WWII won against the Axis powers, and throughout the war temporary Coca-Cola factories were set up to supply troops with soda, but they continued producing even after the war. This spread Coca-Cola and it's symbolic relationship to America to almost all of the world. -
Antisemitism in a Bottle
Accusations of antisemitism were placed against Coca-Cola when they had not done business in Israel. What happens when a symbol of America get called Antisemitic? Many domestic boycotts started in America by Jewish Americans. The boycotts didn't last long but did cause unrest with America and Israel -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
After the Berlin Wall fell, people who were trapped behind the iron curtain in eastern Europe finally felt the freedoms that the western world had felt. East Europeans were met with new ideas from America, new cultures, and Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola became the symbol for American freedom. -
Iraq War
America went to war with Iraq, and anti-Americanism bloomed throughout the middle east. Coca-Cola was seen as one of America's biggest symbols, and it was destroyed publicly by enemies in the Middle East. Once Saddam Hussein was killed in Baghdad, the troops celebrated with a barbecue, where they drank Coca-Cola and ate hamburgers.
